Ben 10 Metaverse
by AlphaPheonix
Summary: When a hero is never born, his World is in danger of the many threats that exist, from evil intergalactic empires to power hungry beings. Phoenix Mason, the first Metaverser, has been tasked with taking over the job Ben Tennyson cannot fulfill this time around. Now, he must incorporate a new set of forms and skills to his arsenal to save this world from threats, within and without.
1. Start of an Adventurous Summer

I watched as a metallic object fell towards earth and right at me. I calmly took a few steps back and watched it crash down where I was once standing. "Great, after ten years of radio silence, now I can finally get things moving." I said to myself as I approached the container. I held out my hand as it opened and watched as a black and green device attached itself to my left wrist. From it's original position, a hologram came on.

"Hello, Phoenix," said a small grey alien in a holo-recording. "Gallio informed me that you can be trusted, and I'm inclined to believe him. Keep the Omnitrix safe. And try not to abuse it. Also, the Master Control is locked to you. Can't make things too easy, now can I?"

"Nice to see all geniuses are dicks."

"I hope you don't do anything stupid with the Omnitrix, how Ben Tennyson Prime managed to operate it while only breaking it twice is remarkable. Try not to break it yourself, especially to spite me."

"Oh, shouldn't have said that…," I grinned as the holo-recording shut off and went back to the RV where my grandfather and cousin, in this life at least, were.

My name is Phoenix Mason, but in this life, It's Benjamin Kirby "Phoenix" Tennyson. I am a powerful being known as a Verser, basically a god of reality to save you a long winded explanation. The original Benjamin Tennyson, who I am now replacing, was never born, leaving the world undefended from his greatest enemy, Vilgax, a galactic conqueror of great power. To save this world and prevent Vilgax from potentially learning of existence beyond his single universe.

"Phoenix," I heard my cousin, Gwen, calling out. "Where are you?!"

"Oh, this is going to be fun." I accessed the Omnitrix and turned the dial to a figure I recognized. "Hehehe." I pressed down dial and a green light surrounded me and changed me into an alien with red skin, four arms and eyes, and raising my height to about 10 or 11 feet. I grinned and tossed a rock behind me where I heard Vilgax's drone hovering, searching for the Omnitrix after destroying its pod. I slipped as much from sight as I could for a ten foot alien. When Gwen walked passed, I jumped out in front of her and smiled. "Boo."

"Ahh!" she screamed as she stumbled away from me in fear. I laughed and grinned.

"Ah man, you should've seen your face, Gwen!"

"Phoenix?!"

"In the flesh!" I smiled as she stared at me.

"What happened to you?!"

"I saw this comet looking thing land nearby. When I went to investigate it, and found this watch, it latched onto my wrist and as I was trying to get it off, I turned into this."

"And you just chose to scare me?!"

"Yep!"

"Grr! You're such a doofus!"

"Ooh, shouldn't have called me that!" I grabbed the back of her shirt.

"Hey!" I hung her from a tree branch and grinned as she struggled. "Get me down from here!"

"Take back the doofus remark."

"Fine! I take it back! Just get me down!"

"Calm down, calm down, I'm getting you down." I got her off the branch as the Omnitrix started beeping and flashing red before turning me back and making her fall on top of me. I groaned as my head hit the ground. "Ow…"

"Serves you right, Doofus!"

"Can you get off! You're heavy!" Gwen glared before climbing off of me and helping me to my feet. "Thanks." I looked at the device and saw its screen was red.

"At least you're not stuck looking like that thing forever."

"I wonder what else I can turn into."

"Phoenix, no. You're not messing with that thing. We should show it to Grandpa Max, see what he thinks you should do."

"Fine," I said as we started to head back to the Rustbucket, Grandpa Tennyson's RV.

"There you kids are!" said Grandpa Max, a man I've looked to as a mentor in this world. "Where's you go?"

"Went for a walk, saw some wild life, found a cool watch from a canister that fell from space, no big deal."

"What was that last part?" I smiled and held up the Omnitrix showing him the device and the Intergalactic Symbol of Peace on it, the symbol on a Plumber's Badge.

"Watch this." I pressed the buttons on the side of the face, lifting the face.

"Phoenix, maybe you shouldn't do that," said Grandpa Max.

"I'll be fine." I turned the dial to another shape as Max stepped closer.

"Phoenix…" I slammed down the face and the Omnitrix flashed green before turning me into a being made of stone and covered in flames.

"Awesome!"

"What kind of monster are you now?" asked Gwen.

"He's not a monster, he's an alien." Gwen looked at him, surprised. "Well, look at him. What else could he be?"

"Could be a demon," I said as I idly tossed a fireball back and forth between my hands.

"Phoenix! Be careful!" shouted Gwen. I extinguished the fireball before sighing.

"Relax, Gwen. I'm not an idiot." I snapped and formed a flame above my fingers before seeing it turn white along with the flames all around my body. "What the…"

"What happened?"

"Not sure. It doesn't feel like anything's changed."

"Maybe it's whatever made your hair white and eyes silver?" said Max. _'And chalk another thing Soul Magic can do, altering any form I may take on in the future. Wonder what else it affects besides color.'_ The sounds of screams drew our attention to where other campers were. _'Uh oh. Sounds like Squid Face is acting earlier than he usually does. Wonder what triggered it.'_ I didn't even think, I just ran towards the screams, ignoring my cousin and grandfather as they called for me to head back. As people started running passed me, I found what was causing all of the commotion.

One of Vilgax's robots wreaking havoc and trying to locate the Omnitrix after Vilgax is alerted by the first drones destruction. I duck as a piece of debris from a car flies overhead and look at the bot, keeping the Omnitrix from it's view. _'Damn timing, I thought Lucy's blessing was supposed to improve my luck, not worsen it.'_ I glanced at the watch, away from the bots view and look. _'Still red. Gotta stall for time.'_ I grabbed an abandoned picnic blanket and tore a few strips from it. I wrapped one strip around my face, blocking my features and wrapped another piece around the Omnitrix. "A ten year old me vs a 20 foot robot, no back up, no weapons, and a transformation watch on cooldown. Must be a Friday." I grabbed a rock and used the rest of the blanket as a sling. I spun it as fast as I could and hurled the rock in front of a laser aimed at a girl. "Pick on someone your own size, ya overgrown tin can!" I slung another rock, this one larger than the last as it fired another laser at me. The rock shattered and I hid as its scanners were blocked.

I spotted Gwen and Grandpa Max running over and waved to them to get behind cover. Max saw the drone and pulled Gwen behind a tree. I got to the girl as the bot looked for me and moved her away from the robot. When she was safe I went back over to the robot and looked around for something I could use. I spotted a tire iron that was blown from the trunk of a car and a broken off sideview mirror. I grabbed both and used Soul Magic to enlarge the mirror and tire iron and strengthen them. "Fore!" I swatted a rock with the tire iron and hit the bot in the head, turning it towards me. "Hit me with your best shot!"

"Phoenix," shouted Max. "Get out of there!" I swatted a rocket back at the bot and dodged as it fired a machine gun at me.

"It never had those in the original show. Something's up." I saw rocks getting thrown at its head and saw Gwen and Max getting it's attention. "No! Don't get involved!" It turned to them and fired its laser. "Dammit." I moved in and intercepted another laser blast aimed at Gwen. It hit the mirror and shattered it, knocking me back. I grunt as I hit a tree and Max drags me away from its field of view.

"Phoenix, what the heck were you thinking?!"

"I said not to get involved." I moved the cloth on my wrist and looked at the Omnitrix. "Still red. Gotta stall for more time."

"No, you're not going back out there. It's too dangerous."

"I have to. Someone needs to take care of that thing."

"And you think you can do it?"

"With the alien watch, yes I can. I just need to wait for its cooldown to finish." I looked at him, determination in my gaze. "Trust me on this, Grandpa. I'll turn into that fire guy, or this four armed alien from before, and wreck that thing." Max thought about it for a while as the robot tried blasting through the trees to get to us.

"…Alright. But be careful, I don't want to have to explain to your parents that you died fighting a giant robot."

"Of course."

"Phoenix," said Gwen. "Be careful."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Please don't ask that." I grinned and went back out to where the bot was. It started firing in all directions, trying to destroy everything in the area, just to try and locate the Omnitrix. I spent 8 minutes baiting the thing with every trick I could think of, even a few tricks using Soul Magic and Umbramancy outside of my family's vision. When the 8 minutes were up, I hid behind another tree and pulled up the dial, seeing it turn green.

"Hero time." I turned the dial and transformed into a white Petrosapien, an alien made of a diamond like mineral. "Alright, time to go to work." I formed a pillar of crystal under my feet and launched myself at the drone. "Looking for me Tinny?!" I turned my arm into a blade and stabbed into its neck as I landed. I watched its scanners zoom in on my face and on the Omnitrix symbol on the black and white jumpsuit covering my body. "That's right! I got the Omnitrix." I brought my face closer to its scanners. "Come and get me, Squid Face. I'll be waiting." I brought spikes out of my arm, shredding the drone from the inside out. I jumped away and encased the drone in crystal as it exploded. I made the tedonite go back to the earth as people surrounded me their faces locked in an awestruck look.

I grinned and launched myself up into the air with another pillar of crystal and towards where I knew the RV was and landed next to it. I hid myself from where any one might come following and waited for the transformation to time out. Gwen and Max ran back over as the Omnitrix flashed red and I reverted back into my normal form for this world; a ten year old boy with a black and white shirt, silver eyes, and white hair. I sighed and fell back onto the ground, exhausted. "That was really reckless, Phoenix," said Gwen.

"I got the job done, didn't I? And no one else was hurt since the robots attention was on me."

"You still need to be careful," said Max. "We don't know what that watch can do or what the robot wanted. _'You'll need to tell us soon, Grandpa,'_ I thought to myself. I sighed and stood back up before heading into the RV.

"I need to get some sleep. See you guys in the morning." About an hour later, as Gwen was sleeping, I turned to Max as he was about to head to bed. "Grandpa."

"Yes, Phoenix?"

"Is there something you're not telling us? Earlier, you pointed out the fact that the fire being was an alien, and your eyes widened slightly when you saw the symbol on the watch."

"Its nothing, Phoenix. Don't worry."

"Alright, good night, Grandpa."

"Good night, Phoenix." As he closed the door to his bed in the RV I sighed.

"Old men and their secrets. Somethings never change."

A few days later, we found ourselves in DC, and I was scrolling through the beings listed in the Omnitrix. _'Azmuth had to be a dick and not unlock the master control, didn't he? Dammit. Guess it's trial and error time.'_ I avoided Zs'skayr's form and turned into the Galvan form. I looked around as I was now only a few inches tall. "This is a weird point of view," I said, my voice now high pitched. "That's gonna get annoying whenever I need to speak.

"What can this one do?"

"I appear to have a very advanced intellect, there are a number of equations running through my head right now, some of them I'll never be able to understand when I return back to normal."

"Can you give my laptop an upgrade?" I went over to it and started going through its files and memory stores while also looking up the basic components used for the devices operation.

"Sorry, some of the stuff I'd need to make this thing more advanced we don't even have here in the RV and are only experimental or used in the military. Fat chance of us getting anything from them."

"Oh well, it was only me musing." She grinned as she noticed my size and decided to try and get me back for the tree thing a few days ago when our road trip with Grandpa Max began. I ducked under her hand and jumped over the other.

"Can't catch me!" I started running up her arm and hid out of her reach.

"Hey!"

"Stop trying to manhandle me!"

"Both of you, behave!" shouted Max behind his shoulder as he was driving.

"Sorry Grandpa," said both of us as I jumped onto her head. I jumped to the ground as she tried swatting me and changed back to normal.

"And he sticks the landing!" I grinned as she glared at me.

"Why can't you be normal?" Before I could make a retort, I looked outside and saw a building on fire.

"Grandpa, stop the RV." He looked where I was looking and saw the fire. When he pulled the RV over, I got out and looked around before seeing a way in and returning to my regular form.

"Ben, what are you going to do," asked Gwen.

"Something stupid," was my only reply as I ran off and avoided getting noticed by the fire fighters. I got into the building and looked at the watch. "God I hope this works." I reached out with my mind, which had been enhanced with several pieces of tech in my travels as a Verser, and connected with the Omnitrix's interface, only to be met with a very angry A.I. program. She looked to be about ten in appearance and had green skin, green and black eyes, and was glaring at me, my mental form that of a 25 year old man. "Gah! Wasn't expecting an A.I. in here."

"Of course there'd be an A.I. stupid. How else do you expect a complex piece of machinery to adapt itself and find a suitable user?"

"Considering you're a prototype, I guessed Azmuth wouldn't put an A.I. in until he was sure that it could work and that it wouldn't interfere with the user or the devices main systems."

"Well he did add one, thank you very much."

"Right. If you'd be so kind as to change me into the Pyronite, please. I've got a fire to deal with."

"Why the Pyronite?"

"I can absorb the flames in a small area, there's a family the fire fighters can't get to, I'm going to save them. Please change me so I can get that done."

"…Fine." I exited the Omnitrix and felt my body change from a Galvan to the Pyronite.

"Oof, that felt weird. Must be cause she's pissed, though what about, I don't know yet. Now then…" I made my way up the stairs and found a mother and son trying to find a way out but were blocked by flames on all sides. I ran over and caught a pile of debris that was about to crush them and trap them in the burning building.

"What are you?..." asked the kid.

"Just trying to help," I told him with a grin. I tossed the debris away and absorbed the flames around us just as the stairs I came up from collapsed. "Nothing's ever easy, huh?" I looked around and saw a window leading to where the crowd of people were standing. "This way!" I used flames to cut away at the bricks, making a hole as large as large as my current form. I lowered my temperature and grabbed hold of the two of them before getting us out of the building in a swirl of white flames, shocking the crowd as I lowered the flames, showing them unharmed. They all stared at me in awe, much like the people from our first stop on the road trip.

I looked at my hands and blasted myself off the ground with the flames I emitted. "Oh, that's a neat trick." I flew over to the RV and flew next to the passenger window as Max was driving. "What's up?"

"How are you?… Never mind. The fire was a diversion for a robbery at a jewelry store."

"Where are they?"

"A few blocks away from here in a black van," said Max. As soon as he finished speaking, I sped off and found the speeding van. I tossed a fireball at its tires and made it flip, jarring the two robbers. I melted their shoes to the asphalt and landed in front of them, holding a white flame in my hands.

"Just try and get away from me, I dare ya." The two robbers fell backwards, trying to get as far away from me as possible. I fired some flames into words on the ground behind them and grinned as they pissed themselves before flying off as I heard the Omnitrix start beeping. I landed just before I transformed back and watched as the cops arrived and picked up the two criminals and the jewels in the overturned car. "Job well done."

"'Just doing my job to help the boys in blue'," I heard a police officer say out loud, reading my message. "'Signed, Ignis.' Who the hell is Ignis?"

"Whoever he is, he saved us some time in getting these two." They put them into a patrol car as the RV strolled up to me. I climbed back on, grinning.

"What's got you in a good mood?"

"Just getting some recognition for my efforts."

" _Ugh, I can practically feel your ego growing,"_ said the A.I. in my head. I ignored it and looked at Max. "How did you guys know about the crooks?"

"I have a police scanner in the dash."

"Huh. Never noticed."

"How did you fly," asked Gwen.

"Used flames as a propulsion device. Handling is a bit weird, but I'll get the hang of it." Max saw the writing in flames and looked at me.

"'Ignis'?"

"My name for the fire alien. Latin for fire. Fits huh?"

"How do you know that?" asked Gwen.

"Video games."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Because I'm me." I grinned as we pulled up to a discount store. I waited by the entrance as Gwen and Max went to get stuff for dinners for the week. I sat down, bored and chose to speak with the A.I. _'So, what do I call you?'_

" _What?"_

' _What do I call you? You've got to have a name, all A.I.s do to have an easy way to identify themselves, unless they have a hive mind. You don't, so you've got to have an identity.'_

" _Omnitrix Artificial Intelligence Operating Unit One."_

' _That's too long. I'll call you Aoi.'_

" _Why that?"_

' _AND-OR-Invert. Boolean logic gates in electrical engineering. Plus, it's a cute Japanese name. Two things in one.'_

"… _Fine. Call me Aoi."_ I could practically feel her blushing as I looked around. I noticed something that was unusual. A girl, about 15, with long white hair and wearing a purple outfit.

' _Charmcaster? Why is she here?'_ I watched as she bought some food, enough for one person, and started heading to the exit. I grinned internally and snapped my fingers away from her view, making a white rose materialize in front of her face, and making her pause. She looked around suspiciously, trying to find the mage who conjured the rose. Her eyes settled on me as I sat nearby. I looked at her. "Can I help you?"

"Your eyes…" she muttered softly. She shook her head and looked at me. "No. Sorry." She grabbed the rose and walked away, a small blush on her pale face.

' _See you later, Hope.'_

" _Aren't you a charmer,"_ said Aoi.

' _I got some advice from some… questionable mentors who think themselves lady killers.'_

" _And you got that from them?"_

' _No. Improvised my own techniques when I knew their own advice would fail.'_

" _Smart man. So, who is that girl?"_

' _Her name is Hope. She's from a magical dimension, and lives here on Earth with her Uncle, they're both refugees. She uses magic and has been trying to resurrect her deceased father in her home dimension of Ledgerdomain.'_

" _Let me guess, you're going to help her?"_

' _Don't know if I can. He's more than dead, his soul is trapped, and the only way his jailor will release him is with an exchange. 600,000 souls for his own. Both her and Hex have been trying to find a way back and beat the one who took over their world.'_

" _Don't you have magic?"_

' _Yes I do. Magic I'm afraid of showing them in case they try and take it themselves.'_

" _And yet you used it just now."_

' _I used basic Conjuration magic, barely registering on their radar as powerful.'_

" _You should still be careful."_

' _Yes, Mom!'_ I stood up and made it to where Max and Gwen were.

"Decided to join us, after all?" asked Max.

"Got bored. Wanted to stretch my legs."

"Maybe you can talk Grandpa out of buying some of the stuff here," said Gwen. I looked in the cart.

"Only canned octopus? I thought this store prided itself on wide selection."

"That's what I said," said Max as Gwen looked scared.

"Oh no, I'm gonna be the only one wanting normal food, aren't I?"

"Gotta learn to live with what you got," I said with a shrug and a smirk. We started walking and I hung around the electronics section, slipping a few things into a pocket dimension I created to store stuff in when I didn't have a modified PipBoy created by the Manifestation of Science, Gallio, a genius of various fields of science and progress, and highly unmotivated in anything else.

" _Isn't that stealing?"_

' _My karmic level is a bit too high, better to steal a few things for later use then to stay as a karmic good guy.'_

" _And these words mean?"_

' _I've learned a long time ago that some powers are only used when I remain neutral on a karmic level, while others are locked behind a good or evil karmic level. I have two other forms, one good, one evil, that cover them.'_

" _Evil?"_

' _Well, technically. Morally black and more selfish while the 'good' form is morally white and more selfless. Meaning one, I tend to work for my own benefits, helping others is just a coincidence, the other, I help others no matter what. Both have benefits, but one is mainly for killing, the other for saving.'_

" _So you tend to be neutral in a lot of things."_

' _Yeah, mainly because it's better to be impartial in wars and similar things… like politics.'_

" _Not a fan?"_

' _Too many lies. And that's coming from a person who lies about his identity for a living.'_ I took a few more pieces of tech and felt a rumble. "Someone's right on time." I pulled a balaclava over my head as the wall beside me was destroyed by a giant frog with an old man riding on top of it. I hid in the shadows as my luck worked for me for once and dimmed the lights because of the damage. I improvised a weapon from a piece of chord that was ripped from the wall when the frog busted in and tied it around a piece of metal shrapnel. I spun it around to test it's swing speed and weight before turning to Animo. "Gonna have to do."

I swung it a few times as I stepped from the shadows. "Jiraiya wannabe! Catch!" I flung the improvised weapon at him. He ducked under it, but the weapon destroyed the helmet, making him unable to control the frog. I bucked him off of it and onto the ground. I kicked a toppling shelf on top of him, knocking him out and turned to the frog. "Your turn, ugly. Come and get me!" I transformed into Ignis and blasted it with fire, cooking it alive. I added a few pounds onto the weight on top of Animo and wrote in fire on the ground to put him in maximum security lockup for assault, damage of public property, attempted robbery, and attempted murder. Aoi changed me back to my normal form and I hid once more.

I watched as the police arrived and found Animo and the charred remains of the mutant frog. They read the message and one officer looked at his partner. "Ignis again. Beat us to the punch."

"Or maybe he was in on it and did it for the glory," said the other officer.

"And the robbery earlier? No way."

"Look, he left an address, there's no way he didn't know the guy."

"Will you two shut up," said a third officer as I stepped from the shadows when I saw Gwen and Max and walked towards them as the officers were distracted by the roasted frog corpse. I took off the balaclava and Max looked at me.

"I take it this was your doing."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just an innocent bystander." I smiled as they rolled their eyes. We purchased our stuff and left the discount store. When we climbed back into the RV, Gwen turned to me.

"What happened back there?"

"Guy riding a giant frog broke into the electronics department on a giant mutant frog, stopped him from taking anything, killed the frog."

"You killed it?"

"How else was I going to contain a giant mutant frog who most likely wasn't affected by the cold like a normal frog?"

"Why didn't you try knocking it out?"

"Because the ensuing fight would've caused more destruction and put more people in danger. It was already rampaging after I destroyed the helmet the old man was wearing, which he was probably using to control it, because it went berserk and threw him off of it. I dropped a shelf on top of him and used Ignis to burn the frog. Left a message for the police on where he was living and what his plans were, he blurted them out for some reason."

"Phoenix," said Max. "Next time, try and handle things in a non-lethal approach."

"What if the threat is bigger than I can handle normally, or its someone who could potentially put the lives of every person on Earth in mortal peril. Like an intergalactic emperor or something."

"Even then. If you start killing them, there's no going back. You shouldn't be like them, you should be better than them. Do you understand, Phoenix?" I sighed and looked at him.

"I understand, Grandpa."

"Good. Now come on, I need to start dinner."

"Ooh, what's on the menu tonight?"

"Oh, God!" lamented Gwen as we followed Max into the RV. The next few days were a mix of exciting and boring. We encountered a large alien that'd been living in a lake and dealt with poachers trying to steal its eggs for a profit. Left a message for the police to pick them up and to contact the feds. After that, we visited Max's sister, Vera at a retirement community, dealt with aliens impersonating the elderly people there before abducting the rest and eating them. They had a sever allergy to fresh water and were dealt with using a water pistol Gwen had in her back pack. Had to wipe the memories of everyone who had been abducted, nothing else happened for a while, giving me time to understand my new alien forms.

"Who are we working on today?"

"I was thinking, Diamondhead. I need to get used to shooting projectiles with him. I feel like there's an easier way to shoot them and that I can be more accurate, but I can't quite figure it out. It's not like using a sling, or bow." _'Or even using a gun.'_

"Which reminds me," said Gwen. "How do you know how to use those?"

"Scouts."

"The bow, I understand. But the sling?"

"Oh, that I learned in history and from video games on how reliable it can be."

"You paid attention in school?"

"Only when it came to historical battles and weapons."

"Why am I not surprised? Wait, your history class covered those?" I helped Max set up a few targets in the canyon we stopped in as I ignored her question.

" _Not the most conspicuous answer, is it?"_ asked Aoi.

' _What else was I going to say? Internet? Yeah, that's more believable at this time.'_

" _You could've said you saw it in a movie."_

' _My parents don't watch movies. Won't even let me watch them. No idea why.'_

" _That's… weird."_

' _Well, my parents are weird.'_ When the targets were set up, I changed into Diamondhead and started firing once Max and Gwen were a safe distance away and made sure not to aim anywhere near the Rustbucket. I missed several projectiles and groaned as I turned back to normal. "There has to be an easier method."

"Why don't you try firing a smaller stream instead of the entire expanse of your hand," asked Gwen.

"Huh, didn't think about that, but aiming takes time, time not always given in a fight, like with the Kraken."

"Well, that's a problem for another day," said Max. "Let's go. We've got somewhere else to be." I turned to him and noticed something about the RV. _'Was it Tetrax that sabotaged the Rustbucket? None of my crystals ever came close.'_ We got into the Rustbucket and made it to a ghost town before the RV started to act up. We got out so Max could check it and found a crystal had hit the engine. "I think I found the problem."

"What?! None of my crystals even got close to the RV!"

"Maybe it ricocheted," suggested Gwen.

"Whatever's the case, it's gonna take me a while to fix this."

"Alright, then if you guys need me, I'll be exploring this place." I walked away and knew they shared a look for Gwen to follow me and make sure I didn't get into any trouble. I looked around before walking into the building where the crab bounty hunter was supposed to ambush me. I heard Gwen enter behind me and turned to face her. "Really? What could I possibly get up to in a ghost town?"

"I don't know, I just know that, since you got the watch, you've been attracting the weird things lately."

"And you think the streak will continue here, don't you?" Before she could respond, the ground below us rumbled, causing us to stumble into each other as the bounty hunter came up from the ground. I moved her behind me as he turned towards me.

"There you are. Hand over the Omnitrix, kid!"

"How about no," I said, backing Gwen over to the entrance of the building as he advanced on us.

"Oh, good. Looks like we'll have to do things the hard way!" He charged a laser, aiming in our direction, but didn't watch where he was standing. I kicked a plank of wood at my feet to my right and knocked it into a lever, sending him to the ceiling and crushing him for the moment. I pushed Gwen out the entrance and transformed into the Galvanic Mechamorph, Upgrade. I took control of the lift and crushed him using the upgrades I gave it. I watched him fall to the ground in a heap of scrap before heading back to the Rustbucket after Gwen I climbed in and Max took off.

"What happened back there?"

"One scrapped robot crab, courtesy of me."

"A robot crab?"

"I think he was after the watch. But he called it the Omnitrix."

"Omnitrix?"

"At least he's gone," said Gwen, just before a laser saw blade started cutting a whole in the roof of the RV. The cut pieces were pulled back, revealing another bounty hunter, SixSix. He shouted at us in his native language and I turned to him.

"Not a chance, Guy." I took control of his armor and started disabling its systems before knocking him unconscious and tying him up on the roof of the Rustbucket.

"Could you understand him," asked Gwen.

"Not really, but it was clear he was after the watch as well. What else could he have been shouting?"

"I guess you're right." The Omnitrix started beeping and I returned to my normal form. I sat down and sighed.

"Well, that was exhausting."

"I'll bet," said Max. He glanced up to the roof where SixSix was and looked at me in the rearview mirror. "What are we going to do with him?"

"No idea. But you said not to kill, and we couldn't just leave him there, he could still potentially follow us, and put innocents in danger in the inevitable fight. Now we've got an alien on the roof and no idea what to do with him." As we continued driving, debating on what to do, Max suddenly stopped the Rustbucket. I looked at what made him stop and saw another bounty hunter in the middle of the road. _'Tetrax. Guess I shouldn't be surprised.'_ I saw the Omnitrix was still red and mentally sighed.

" _Hey, Azmuth said not to make things too easy for you."_

' _I hate cooldowns.'_ "Both of you, stay here."

"Phoenix, no," said Max. "The watch hasn't even finished recharging."

"This guy hasn't even attacked yet. Maybe he can be reasoned with. The last two attacked as soon as they could, he isn't. He's had a clear shot the entire time we've been sitting here but hasn't taken it. You want me to take a non-lethal approach, then I need to see if I can talk some people down. Let me do this." Max hesitated for a second before sighing. I exited the Rustbucket and walked over to him. "So, you're buddies couldn't take me down. Ones tied up on the roof of my grandfather's RV, the other's a heap of scrap a few miles back that way. Both took about a minute to take down. Wanna see if you're going to fare any better?"

"They're not my buddies," said Tetrax. "The one on your vehicle is called SixSix. The other was Kraab, a cybernetically enhanced Piscciss Premann."

"So he was an alien? Oh, whoops."

"He's most likely not dead, just crippled, which makes it easier for me to turn him in."

"So, you're not after the Omnitrix?"

"Technically, that's what I was hired for. But I wasn't going to turn it in to the person who hired us to take it. I was supposed to find someone worthy of using it."

"And am I worthy?"

"That remains to be seen." I heard the Omnitrix beep and turn green and turned the dial to Diamondhead's silhouette.

"Then how about a test, I beat you, I'm worthy. You beat me, you can do what you want with the Omnitrix."

"That's not how this is going to work."

"Sorry, that's the way it is." I transformed into the Petrosapien and got into a boxing stance. "So, come on. Lower that mask, and we can have a proper match."

"Fine then. Have it your way." He lowered his mask and I started circling him.

"So, what is your species called?"

"Petrosapien. We're a race of living crystal bipedal beings."

"Good to know." I fired crystals in a rapid fire single stream, rather than my normal shotgun-like spread. Tetrax's eyes widened and he raised a wall of crystal to block the stream. I launched myself into the air and slammed down onto his position, only to find he was no longer there. I ducked under his own projectiles and punched his wall of crystal, exploding it and sending shards everywhere. I ducked under a swing from his arm, which had been turned into a mace, and kicked him away. I brought up a wall between us and he looked at me.

"Bad timing for defense, right now."

"Never said this was a defensive move!" I fired projectiles from the wall, throwing him off guard. I launched above him and landed on his chest, putting my blade arm to his neck, tip lifting his chin. "So, how'd I do?"

"Not bad, for a kid."

"I'm more experienced than I look." I helped him up as the Omnitrix timed out and I turned back to normal. "So, did I pass?"

"I'd say you did. I was originally hired to locate the Omnitrix and bring it to a safe location, but based on what I just witnessed, I'd say it's safe enough with you."

"What do I call you?"

"Names Tetrax Shard."

"Ben Tennyson, though friends and family call me Phoenix."

"Well Phoenix, I guess I'll get the two bounty hunters and go, but first, I think you could use something to help get around when not transformed or near your grandfather's vehicle." He tossed me his hoverboard and grinned as I caught it. He pulled out a device and summoned his ship. He collected SixSix and left towards Kraab's location. Gwen looked at me as I climbed back onto the RV.

"What just happened?"

"He's a good guy, hired to find the Omnitrix and bring it to a safe location, he just figured it'd be safest with me."

"And that fight just now?"

"Me proving it. Was able to impress him enough, I guess." I sat down at the dinning table. "Can we get out of here now? I doubt there's anything more happening any time soon." Gwen and Max shared a look before Max started driving the RV once more and we made our way to our next destination.


	2. Altering the Timeline

When we got to New York, we immediately checked into the hotel Grandpa Max booked for a few nights. As we waited for Grandpa Max to get us checked in, Gwen nudged my shoulder. "I'm surprised you're not trying to sneak a peak at the Sumo Slammer game testing here."

"Not worth potentially getting thrown out. Besides. It's the Beta. There's always too many glitches to work out before they can release the full game." _'Case in point, a naggy A.I. who won't shut up about how I use her casing.'_

" _I'm naggy?!"_ shouted Aoi in my head. I blasted an electric guitar riff in my head, making her cringe and yell out in surprise and pain. I looked at Gwen.

"If you need me, call my phone. I'm going out for a walk."

"You know Grandpa expects us to be in his sight while we're here!"

"What's the worst that's going to happen?"

"Don't ask that, Doofus!" I moved my hand in a 'yeah, yeah' fashion and stepped out of the hotel lobby. _'Aoi. Do you have a map of New York?'_

" _Yes, but I'm not showing it to you."_

' _It's just in case we get lost.'_

" _You mean if you get lost."_

' _And you're on my wrist. So who gets lost with me?'_ I grinned as I heard her huff in frustration and walked around. I made my way to an arcade. _'Man I miss these things. Back in my world, in my hometown, pretty much all normal arcades not connected to a pizzeria or a children's playhouse is shut down.'_

" _You know those things are rigged, right?"_

' _Does it seem like I care? It's the fun of playing one of these cabinets that I love."_ I started playing one of the cabinets with the usable guns, only to die two minutes in because of the faulty gun. _'And I remember why they shut down in the first place. No equipment maintenance.'_ I tried fishing out my change and growled when I didn't get any back. "Hey," I said to the arcade manager. "Your broken game ate my change!"

"Tough luck, kid." I glared at him as a boy walked over to me. "Bites, huh?" I turned to him. _'Kevin Ethan Levin. Forgot this was when I was supposed to meet him. Maybe I can change his fate.'_ I turned to him.

"Yeah. It's jerks like him that'll shut these places down. Wish we could get back at him, somehow."

"Oh, we definitely can." I watched him look around before placing his hand on the machine and short circuit it, making it throw up coins like a kid after Halloween. He grinned and pocketed a few quarters before bolting. I picked up my change only and followed after him. He led me to an alley and grinned at me. "How much did you get?"

"Just my change. I don't over indulge."

"Why not?"

"Restraint is a lesson I need to learn. Especially with what I can do."

"And what's that?"

"Trade secret, sorry."

"Ah, you're no fun."

"I'm loads of fun. Just people find me irritating."

"I'll bet."

"Well, well, well. Look what we got here, boys," said a voice from behind us. We turned around and saw a gang grinning at us. "It's the freak!"

"Oh no," said Kevin. I looked above us.

"Can you short out that light?" Kevin looked beside him and saw a fuse box. The gang looked at us and saw my sadistic grin.

"What the hell are you grinning about, freak?"

"How much pain you're going to be in." I brought my bandana up around the lower half of my face just as Kevin shorted out the light. I charged at them and sent one to the ground with a swift kick to his stomach. I pulled out my rope and wrapped it around one of their arms, making him clothesline his friend who tried charging at Kevin. I kicked a rock at the second downed gang member, hitting him in the head and knocking him out. The one with my rope on his wrist tried moving it off frantically, only for me to use his arm as a springboard, jump over him and land on his face, knocking him out just as the light came back on. The one still conscious looked up at me as I stood on his buddy. I turned to him and grinned. "I know, I promised pain. And I'm a man of my word." I reached beneath me and took a pocket knife from his friend. I flipped it open and held it to his face.

Kevin laughed as he pissed his pants and passed out from fear. "Oh, man! I can't believe he pissed his pants!"

"And that's why I need to show restraint. I could've killed them but didn't."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because they didn't deserve it. They're just a bunch of punks with nothing better to do." I stopped him from kicking one of them while they were down. "They just got beat by a ten-year-old. They've been humiliated enough. Besides, we gotta go. A squad car is more than likely going to come any second now."

"Right. Follow me." I followed him with Aoi mapping where we've been so we can find our way back to the hotel. We were almost at his hideout when an explosion caught our attention. "What the hell…?"

"Dude, come on!" I raced for the explosion.

"What?! Oh, man!" Kevin raced after me as I came to an intersection. We spotted a few drones attacking cars and civilians. _'Vilgax never attacked New York while Ben was here. What the fuck is going on?!'_

" _Deviation from original timeline. Maybe your presence has altered things drastically."_

' _It's never been this big of a change.'_ I turned to Kevin. "I need you to get the civilians out of here!"

"What are you going to do?! I doubt Kung Fu is going to do much against those things!"

"I've got more tricks up my sleeve. Sometimes, literally." I dialed up the Omnitrix and switched the face to Ignis' form. When I hit the dial, Aoi jumped in surprise and I ended up as a different form instead. I was an eyeless canine alien with white fur and what seemed like gills on the side of my head. _'Wildmutt?! Dammit Aoi!'_

" _I told you not to slap me down like that!"_ Using the vulpimancer's echolocation, I evaded a laser aimed right at me and leapt towards the nearest drone. I shredded it with my claws as Kevin watch from the sidelines. Hearing the people scream, Kevin was reminded of what I wanted him to do. Cursing, he helped a woman up who had tripped and got her away from the fight. I jumped off the exploding drone towards the other and got knocked to the ground by a laser blast. I groaned and shook my head as Kevin ran over.

"What can I do?!" I grabbed his hand and placed it on the ground and pressed a pressure point that made him absorb energy. He watched as his hand turned to concrete. "Whoa…" I pointed to his hand, then me then the drone nearby. I made my paw look like it was soaring in his gaze. "You want me to throw you?! You're too heavy, man!" I pointed to the concrete on his hand and waved to his entire body. He absorbed more concrete and felt himself get stronger. "I didn't know I could do that!" I got ready and he grinned. He grabbed my fur and tossed me at the drone as the Rustbucket screeched to a stop nearby. I slammed into the drone and brought it to the ground, roaring into it's camera before swiping it with my claws. I ripped more of its circuits out of its casing and jumped off as I changed back.

"Phoenix," called Max as I shook my head and spat at the ground. "Are you ok?!"

"Everything but my taste buds. Circuitry is nasty." I turned to Kevin. "Thanks for the assist."

"You're welcome. Names Kevin, by the way."

"Phoenix. This is my cousin, Gwen, and grandpa, Max."

"How did you know I could do that back there?"

"Seemed obvious. You can manipulate energy, figured you could absorb and alter yourself to match something you touch." _'Aoi, do you have a scanner?'_

" _Yes. You want me to scan him?"_

' _Please and thank you.'_ Soon enough, Aoi's voice sounded from the Omnitrix. "Partial alien DNA detected. Scanning."

"Alien," asked Kevin.

"Osmosian DNA detected. Replicating within primary database. Osmosian form unlocked."

"What did you do, Phoenix," asked Gwen.

"I didn't do anything. The watch acted on its own. I didn't touch anything."

"How did it know about my dad," asked Kevin.

"Simple, this watch is of alien origin. With it, I can change into 10 different aliens. Well, I guess it's 11 now. Those drones were after the watch. The alien after it has been gunning for me since I first got it."

"And he hasn't gotten close?"

"Not yet. Been improvising so far. Don't know what else to do other than run, hide, or fight. I keep choosing to fight." I looked at one of the destroyed drones. "Though, there are times I wish we could do away with these things once and for all."

"Why can't you take the fight to whoever is sending those things?"

"Because I can't survive in space..."

"Oh, right."

"Yeah. If it weren't for that, this guy would be dust." I looked up at the sky and glared. _'Something's not right. If Vilgax was escalating his attacks on me, he'd send drones everyday to tire us out. Something else is going on. I think one of the Freaks is here.'_

" _How do you know,"_ asked Aoi.

' _Vilgax is consistent. If he sees you as merely a pest, he won't escalate his attacks. Not unless someone is telling him to. Thing is, only one of them would be foolish enough to try and attack me in a heavily populated area. The Master.'_

" _So he's here?"_

' _Maybe. I'm not sure yet. We'll just have to wait.'_ I turned to Max. "Sorry for wandering off. I got bored."

"It's alright, just don't do it again." I nodded and looked at Kevin. "Try and stay out of trouble, Kevin."

"I make no promises." He looked at his hand and let his mind wander as he walked away. Me, Gwen and Max headed back to the hotel.

As they slept, I meditated and connected with my main consciousness to speak with Gareth. I sat up in my bed, careful not to wake my girlfriends and made sure I was dressed before making my way to the Meeting Chamber and saw the Manifestation of Life. "Hey, asshole!"

"Me dammit," muttered Gareth. "What do you want, Phoenix."

"Think I've got a lead. That favor Gallio asked me for has brought up something. I think The Master is in the Ben 10 universe I'm in."

"Do you have any proof?"

"Just a hunch. Vilgax is behaving differently than any other variation I've heard of. He's attacking more often, and I doubt my presence in this world is changing anything too greatly, and it's just like The Master to coerce someone to attack a pest more than deemed necessary. Vilgax is prideful and finds me, as I am now, as nothing more than a pest and won't escalate his attacks until three weeks from now." I looked at him. "Can you get Tyra to check if there's been anything strange going on? I know that they've found some way to hide their traveling between worlds from her, but she mentioned the other day that she'd felt something off around one of the worlds I trained in."

"I'll have her check. What about the world I asked you to cover?"

"So far, nothing. The Daemon Sisters don't know anything, and my investigations have found nothing. I need help with this."

"We can't offer any. Tsukiko has been training with Sarah to better her magic and Denise has duties she needs to finish herself."

"What about Kurumi? I know she doesn't have anything to do besides hang around here and prank you with Alma."

"As much as I'd like to send her away. We can't order her to do anything. She has to go of her own free will. And even then. How can you trust her?"

"Well, we're sharing a soul. So, there's that."

"I still don't trust her. She was locked in the Shadow Vault for a reason."

"Only because she killed one asshole too many in another world that deserved it. She saved my life, Alma loves her as much as she loves Tsukiko and Denise. If that's not enough for me to trust her, then I don't know what is."

"You're feelings make you biased, Ingrate. I'm telling you now. If she sticks around, you're going to regret it. She will betray us. And she will break you beyond repair."

"Oh, ye of little faith. She could've betrayed us at any time and hasn't."

"Because she probably never had the right set of circumstances she needed." I glared at him.

"I'm not going to sit here and listen to you doubt her. I'm leaving."

"Good. Leave me in peace." I growled as I walked away. I punched a wall, making a sizable hole in it.

"Someone's angry," said someone behind me. I sighed and turned to face the Manifestation of Science, Gallio. "What'd Gareth do this time?"

"Other than the usual? He doubts Kurumi is on our side."

"Well, she was in the Shadow Vault."

"She didn't deserve to be there. The men she killed all deserved it. Rapists, abusers, murderers. She was…"

"Killing to gain strength. Yeah, you remember she fed on their time to try and extend her own and grow stronger, right? That's why she was probably locked up. She got too powerful for her own good. You're lucky she hasn't eaten you yet. I'm sure, in your 10'000 year gap you've done a lot of questionable things that would warrant her feeding on your time. However much that is. Hell, with your combined soul, she can probably do whatever she wants now."

"She's not like that."

"How are you sure? Each variation of her has their own motivation for what they do. Do you know hers?"

"I don't have to. I trust her. Why can't either of you?"

"Because we're not sleeping with her. You are. And she's got you wrapped around her little finger." I growled and sent arcs or electricity around me, shorting out the lights in the hall we were in. "Remind me to modify those in the future," he said offhandedly before turning to me. "And reassess how much you trust Kurumi Tokisaki, Phoenix. She may end up betraying you in the end." I returned to my body in the Ben 10 universe I was occupying and opened my eyes to see Gwen's right in front of me. I blinked in surprise as I registered what was going on. I felt her lips on mine and saw her pull away. Blushing darkly. "Uh…"

"Y-you're dreaming!"

"I don't dream, Gwen. Why...?"

"Don't worry about it!" She ran out of the room I was staying in and shut the door behind her. I could hear Aoi snickering in my head and sent another electric guitar riff her way, making her scream in pain. I checked the time and saw it was early in the morning.

"Damn. Really need to check my sense of time between worlds and the Citadel." I stood up, did my morning routine and went out into the suite's living room with a dark blue shirt with a white line running down the same spot as Ben's black line in his iconic shirt. I spotted Gwen sitting at the table, hiding her head in a book. I could barely make out her blush as Max came in from the entrance. "Please don't tell me you slept in the RV, Grandpa. I thought the whole point of renting this suite was to sleep in a normal bed for a night."

"I was checking on the brakes. When we came back after looking for you, the brakes felt weird. I think a piece of shrapnel hit the brake line."

"You can repair it, right?"

"Yeah, just need to get the right part for it."

"Well, while you're doing that, I'm going to check on Kevin. I think I know where he's been staying. Gonna try and see if he has a family and if he's going to head back to them. Something tells me he's been on his own for a bit."

"Well, be careful, Phoenix." He went to his own bedroom to take a short nap since he'd been up for a few hours. I grinned as I turned to away when I spotted Gwen actually reading this time. I kissed her cheek, startling her and making her blush and splutter before heading out. I made my way to where Kevin had showed me where his hideout was, an abandoned subway terminal. I looked around after spotting him looking at his now steel hand.

"Spacious. And a bit lonely." Kevin sat up and turned to me.

"Oh, hey Phoenix."

"Don't you have a home, Kevin?"

"My mom and stepdad don't care about me."

"And why do you say that?" I turned to him, my hands in my pockets.

"They just…"

"Tell you what to do? Look out for you? Try to make sure you do the right thing? Sounds like they're acting like parents." He stayed silent. "Dude. A word of advice? All they're doing is trying to set an example. Try and make sure you don't waste your life on doing nothing but hurting others for your own benefit. Because it only takes you so far before you end up in prison, or worse." He looked at me like he wanted to punch me. "Think about the gang yesterday. Where the hell do you think they'll end up before long? And from the sounds of it, they're always beating on you. What happens when you all end up in a place where you can't run or hide? What happens then?" Kevin dropped his fist from his windup and growled softly.

"Get out of here."

"I will. Think about what I said, Kevin. And try to patch things up, at least with your mom." I walked away and found myself tackled into an alley a few blocks later. "Ow."

"Hi, Dad!" said the person on top of me. I looked up and saw my daughter, Alma. "You look weird like this."

"And you look weird in general." She pouted. "Off." She got off of me and I stood up, dusting off my clothes. "Alma, why are you here?"

"Overheard you saying to Gareth that The Master was here."

"I said I think he's here. I'm not sure yet, it's just a hunch."

"Well, I came to help, anyways."

"And how am I supposed to explain my eight-year-old daughter when this body is only ten?"

"Just say I'm a friend."

"Who just happened to find me on a cross country trip without parental supervision and is tagging along? Not a chance." Alma pouted. "And that's not going to work. If you want to help, find another world where we can go together and tell me back on the Citadel. We'll have a father-daughter trip, alright?" She grinned and disappeared. I shook my head with a smile and went to join my family back at the hotel. It was a few days after we left New York that we found ourselves near a bank robbery committed by a few women with heavy energy weapons.

"Phoenix, do something," said Gwen.

"If I get involved, we need to move fast so no one asks questions and so that no drones drop nearby."

"If you don't act, those police officers are going to get hurt." I saw the way she was looking at me and sighed. I stepped out of the RV, away from any wandering eyes. "Energy weapons, huh? Might as well try the Osmosian then. Aoi?"

" _Doing it now."_ I transformed and found myself in my original body. Well, sort of. I was adult sized, with Osmosian features. I went over to the gang.

"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" One of them fired a blast at me and I held out my hand. _'Hope this works.'_ I absorbed the energy blast and felt it boost my strength and speed. "Oh, yeah. That could be habit forming." I grinned and charged at the girls, clotheslining one to the ground and tanking another energy blast to my back. I turned to her with a sinister grin. She dropped the weapon and ran. I turned to the last one who was aiming right at my head. "You've got three seconds to drop the weapon, pick up your friend, and go. Unless you want to deal with someone like me for an extended fight with a weapon at half charge." She glared at me but noticed Max and Gwen standing under a hanging roof. I glanced where she was looking. "Don't even think about it, bitch."

"Who you calling a bitch?!" She fired at me and actually knocked me back a bit. I groaned and glared at her. "There's more where that came from."

"Then I should stop holding back." I knelt and absorbed the concrete beneath my feet. I cracked my neck with a very heavy stone sounding pop. "Come on, Dyke! Give me your best shot!" She yelled and fired everything her weapon had at me. I tanked most of her shots before charging at her. I hit her in the gut and knocked the weapon from her hands before kicking her head. She groaned from the hit and stood on wobbly knees. "This is the part where you fall down." She collapsed with a groan. I noticed a couple of drones flying our way and pulled two slabs of concrete out of the ground before tossing them at the drones, blowing one up as the other evaded. "Oh great, a smart one." I blocked a laser blast and grabbed onto it as it flew close to try and hit me. I peered into the camera. "You watching this?! I hope so, bastard!" I smashed into the bot and ripped out several important wires and circuits. I jumped off as its navigational equipment malfunctioned and it flew into a cliffside.

"Phoenix," said Max. "Come on. We gotta go." I grabbed one of the destroyed bots and climbed back aboard the RV, closing the door behind me.

"Is it a good idea to bring that thing on the Rustbucket," asked Gwen.

"How else can Greymatter study it and try to find a better way to destroy them?"

"Greymatter?"

"The small brainy alien." I changed back as I stored the drone remains in the closet. We took off for another location Grandpa wanted to visit. I looked at Gwen as she typed on her laptop. "So… about New York." She blushed darkly and hid her face from me. I grinned and sat next to her. I decided to mess with her. "You think Kevin is going to be ok?" Her blush got under control and she looked slightly annoyed and angry when I didn't acknowledge her kissing me while I was meditating. She looked at me, trying to school her emotions.

"I don't know. He seems like just another delinquent, from what you told us about him."

"He may be. But when people were in danger, he did go out of his way to help them. He could've ignored me and run away. He could've joined the fight himself. But he didn't. He chose to get others out of the line of fire."

"He still seems like trouble to me."

"Yeah, but anyone with a good sense of fun and a healthy social life seems like trouble to you, Dweeb." She huffed and turned away from me, annoyed. I grinned and tapped her shoulder.

"What do you w…" She stopped short when I kissed her lightly. Her face turned an interesting shade of red and she squeaked slightly.

I pulled away and smiled at her. "Better than me being asleep?" She stammered and tried to reply but I moved away and let her mind go into overdrive about the kiss. About an hour later we arrived at a circus. I frowned. _'Zombozo. Psychic vampire, feeds off of joy and fear. Uses his traveling circus as a front for robberies.'_

" _How are you going to handle this?"_

' _Simple. I take out the machine he uses to store positive energy. And I can do it easily. Ben would've been paralyzed with fear. But clowns are the least scariest thing I've ever faced.'_

" _Didn't your daughter face the Joker from what you told me?"_

' _Yes. But he wasn't the clown I was talking about.'_ I looked at Max. "Grandpa. I'm going to try to find something to eat."

"Be careful, Phoenix. Don't wander off."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry."

"When you say that," said Gwen. "Is when we should worry."

"Whatever you say, Dweeb." She glared but hid a slight blush, her memory still on the kiss from earlier. I wandered for a little bit before sneaking behind the big tent. I found the machine and felt a presence nearby. I pulled on my bandana and hid amidst the shadows as Zombozo came into the room. I saw the Circus Freaks enter behind him and listened to him tell them where to hit while he 'entertained' the audience. I glared and watched as he left the area. Thumbskull and Acid Breath left soon after with Frightwig staying behind and sighing.

"I need to get out of this."

"Then stay still," I said, using magic to distort my voice.

"Wha…" she said, turning around before I knocked her out. I tore up her clothes and tied her up and made it seem like she'd been assaulted by her 'co-workers'. I went to the machine and frowned.

"Need to be discreet."

" _Is that really an option at this time?"_

"Maybe…" I looked around and spotted a cable. "That looks important." I formed a shadow blade and cut into it. "Now to call in the police and let them know several crimes have been committed by these guys, and she was just a victim."

" _Like they're gonna believe a kid."_

"They won't." I turned the dial and changed into my Osmosian form. "But they'll listen to me like this."

" _S-stop messing with that!"_

"Sorry. Look, if you want to blame anyone, blame Azmuth for putting physical sensors on your casing. Answer me something. Is there any way to turn it off?"

"No."

"Oh well." I shrugged and went outside, making sure I wasn't seen by anyone. I found where they were hiding the stolen items and cash and saw Thumbskull leaving it just a bit open.

" _Guess Lucy's blessing does work."_

' _Doesn't always feel like it.'_ Making sure to cast a minor Notice-Me-Not on me so I remain unnoticed. I pickpocketed a cell phone and called the police. Letting them know about the stolen stuff and the assaulted woman in the circus. I gave them the location of the traveling circus and slid the phone back into the person's pocket without them realizing that they'd lost it. I found a place to change back without notice, bought a tub of popcorn, idly noticing a pheromone to entice laughter and shook my head. "I knew this guy wasn't funny." I rejoined my family as the show was starting.

"You took your time," said Gwen.

"Long line." She shrugged, seeming to believe me and took some popcorn. I watched as the announcer introduced Acid Breath and Thumbskull. When Frightwig was introduced and she didn't show up, the crowd looked around, confused, when she didn't arrive. Nervously, the announcer introduced the star of the show and a small clown car rolled in and Zombozo climbed out of it. I looked around as everyone started laughing at his routine I visibly yawned, catching his attention.

"Are you bored, young man?"

"Let me answer your question with a question. Are you actually funny, dumb clown?"

"Well, it seems we have someone who wants to join the act."

"Shouldn't be that hard. All I have to do is make people laugh. Just gotta show them what you look like under all that make up." At this the people chuckled. Gwen and Max recognized this as me antagonizing an enemy and looked at the clown as he got angry.

"Looks like we got a comedian, folks! Say, kid. Why don't you come down here and introduce yourself."

"No thanks, I can smell that guys breath from here. Anybody got a mint?!" Acid Breath growled at me. "I'll take your laughter as a no. Sorry, Clown. You're pedophilic fantasies won't be fulfilled today." A few more laughs. I didn't notice a pair of orchid eyes watching me.

"I insist young man. Thumbskull, why don't you escort him down here so we can get his name out to the audience." The abnormal strongman walked over to me.

"Come on. Your name can't really be Thumbskull. It's demeaning. Not to mention an insult to thumbs everywhere. Come on, tell me what your real name is. Hey, Clown! What's his name?!" Thumbskull growled at me. "Oh, look out for 'Hmmhm'." And more laughter. _'I know I'm not that funny. Must be the popcorn.'_ I jumped over him as he barreled at me and slammed into my seat. Gwen and Max moved away from him, aware something is up. I landed on his head and looked at Zombozo who was even angrier than before but was hiding it well. "Tell me something clown. Are you actually funny or do you just lace the popcorn with some pheromones to induce laughter? Because I sure as hell ain't laughing. Then again, I'm very cynical and it takes a lot to make me laugh. Like earlier, I saw someone stub their toe on this giant cable leading to a large machine and let out some very choice words that made me chuckle." At the mention of a machine, Zombozo glared at me.

"Oh, you think you're cute!"

"Bitch," I said just as the police raided the place and surrounded him and Acid Breath. "I'm adorable."

"Sorry folks," said a police officer. "This circus has been a staging area for a series of robberies in a number of states. And these men are the perpetrators. We need you to calmly exit the tent and please proceed to your homes." The crowd soon stopped laughing as Thumbskull and Acid Breath were put in restraints and Zombozo disappeared in a cloud of confetti. As we left the tent, I saw Frightwig being helped by two women police officers, a blanket draped over her shoulders. I noticed she had smeared mascara running down her face and was shaking. I read her mind and heard her thoughts. _'Whoever attacked me gave me the out I needed. I need to play this off. Sure they ruined my clothes and roughed me up, but they made it seem like the others did this. If I ever see him again, I don't know what I'll do. Kick his ass or kiss him.'_ I noticed she saw my eyes briefly before she was knocked out. I sighed and made my way to the patrol car she was escorted to as the officers talked about what she probably went through.

She looked at me through the window and saw my eyes as I wrote something on a slip of paper. I pressed it against the glass, and she read 'Zombozo disappeared. Ask for witness protection in exchange for everything you know 'they' did and forced you to do. Chance at better, safer life. I suggest you take it.' She glanced at me again before I walked away and back to Gwen and Max. "What did you do," asked Gwen.

"Stopped some bad guys. Freed a damsel in distress. Usual hero stuff."

"What was that stuff you were saying about a machine, Phoenix," asked Max.

"I found this strange machine and overheard Zombozo say it keeps others positive energy for him to feed on. Makes me think he is a psychic vampire."

"Would make sense why you said he laced the popcorn. And probably the other snacks as well. Now that I think about it, none of what he did really seemed that funny."

"Why weren't you affected," asked Gwen. I shrugged. "Maybe because I was aware of it and subconsciously trying to fight it?"

" _When are you going to tell them about what you really are?"_

' _Hopefully never. But if a Freak is here, I may need to tell them soon. More than likely during my confrontation with Vilgax, if things persist.'_

" _How will they react?"_

' _In my experience, it's always mixed reactions whenever I've revealed this. Either they feel betrayed, fully accept me, or don't know what to think. And I can't predict it because even understanding psychology, when something like the Metaverse and my powers are involved, it changes one's way of thinking drastically. I don't know how they'll react to this news.'_

I followed them into the Rustbucket and thought about how best to deal with what I knew was coming next. My first encounter with Hex, and the appearance of Lucky Girl.


	3. Magic Must Defeat Magic

I looked around the museum and tried to find something I hadn't already encountered. A game I devised for myself to pass time when I knew something important was going to happen. Our current stop on our summer road trip was to a history museum. Gwen was excited, Max was ecstatic. I was on edge. Hex was supposed to attack the museum of magical artifacts for the magical rune stones the museum had on display. I found them and looked for Gwen. _'How should I handle this? Gwen needs to be exposed to magic, so she doesn't feel useless anymore whenever Vilgax or the Freak of the Week shows up. But this would eventually lead to her discovering my particular magic. And I'm not about to let an Anodite get ahold of this much power. Cousin or no. It just spells trouble. Then there's Charmcaster…'_

" _Worry about this later,"_ said Aoi. " _Right now, you should be focusing on stopping Hex."_

' _Should I, though?'_

" _Yes! You're a hero, it's what you do!"_

' _I hate that word, "hero". A title that means nothing but sacrifice and thankless work while also being hated for petty reasons.'_

" _Speaking from experience?"_

' _Plenty.'_ I looked at a clock as Gwen explained about the Arkamada alongside the tour guide and was quickly scolded for it. I nudged her shoulder as the tour started following the guide. "Don't let Mummy-Face get to you. She's probably older than that book." Gwen giggled as the building started shaking and several people, save for me, were lifted off of the ground. _'Dammit! I forgot about my natural Anti-Magic field.'_

" _Well shut it off!"_

' _I can't, not without cutting off access to my magic.'_ I watched as a red smoke flew in from a window and landed in front of the Arkamada's display case, revealing a hooded man brandishing a staff and wearing a sash carrying the Charms of Bezel.

"The Arkamada book of spells," shouted the witch doctor. "All of its power shall soon be mine!" One of the runes glowed. " _Fah-me-doof_!" The glass shattered and he reached for the book, only to get his hand smacked away by a shard of glass I chucked at him.

"Yeah, I can't let you take that."

"Do not get in my way, child! Unless you wish to die!"

"Been there, done that. Got any other threats? No? Then I guess we fight." I lobbed a handful of glass at him that he batted away with his staff, only to find me gone.

"What trickery is this?" He turned around, trying to find me. I grabbed his staff from the shadows and deactivated his lift spell, making everyone drop from the ceiling.

"Everyone out," I shouted as I kicked Hex to the ground. I turned to Gwen. "Make sure everyone gets to safety!"

"Phoenix!"

"Don't argue, go!" Hex slammed his staff into my stomach as Gwen turned away and got everyone out. I groaned and keeled over as he loomed over me.

"You cannot hope to defeat me with petty tricks, boy."

"Yeah. Wasn't trying to beat you just yet. As a wise mentor once told me 'magic must defeat magic'. Hex grunted in surprise as a pillar of earth erupted beneath him and knocked him off his feet, knocking the Luck Charm from his sash. I pocketed it without him looking and grinned. "You like words of power? Try mine on for size. Fus-ROH-DAH!" A blast of sound sent him off his feet and into a wall, knocking his staff away from him. I turned into my white Kinecerelean, Quicksilver,and tied him up using some spare rope I had in my spatial storage. He stared at me.

"Those words…"

"You're still awake? I'll fix that." I hit him, knocking him out as Gwen ran back in. I turned to her. "Why did you come back?"

"To help you, Doofus!"

"Well, clearly, I don't need it. Hurry back outside, the police are almost…" Sirens sounded, and policemen charged in. They aimed their guns at me, and I sped in front of Gwen, arms wide.

"Don't shoot," said Gwen as she peaked out behind me. "This guy saved us from him!" She pointed to Hex. The cops lowered their guns and I lowered my arms with a sigh of relief.

"It's rare to find police officers with some sense," I said before speeding off. I hid in the RV, waiting for Aoi's timer to clock out. When Max and Gwen got back to the RV, they found me laying on my bunk, tossing the Charm in the air. "Did you find out anything about that guy?"

"Not a thing," said Max. "Whoever he was, that man was dangerous. You did a good thing, apprehending him, Phoenix."

"So you say," I said. I handed the talisman to Gwen. "Got you a souvenir. Try not to break it." She turned it over in her hand.

"If anything, it'll make a nice accessory."

"To each their own." I climbed up to my bunk. "I'm going to meditate. Wake me when we get to the market, alright?"

"Whatever, Doofus."

* * *

I got into the lotus position and started my meditating. Instantly, my mind was projected to a massive ship in orbit above the planet. I saw Vilgax staring at my presence as someone worked on something behind his rejuvenation tank. "Have you had fun, playing hero? Good. My new body is almost complete. And soon, I will be coming for the Omnitrix." I stared at him for a few seconds before grinning.

"Is that you behind there, Time Lord?" The tinkering stopped. "What's coming next should be familiar to you. And by the way…" I hacked into the ships systems, causing a sound of four consecutive knocks to play on repeat before locking the ship in a temporary Time Lock and returning to my body. I looked up at the ceiling. "Your move, Freak."

* * *

I faced forward as Gwen pulled herself up to me. "Oh, good. You're awake."

"Never sleep, Gwen. We there?"

"Yeah. Come on! We're going to a restaurant with normal food."

"You, of all people, should know that what Grandpa makes someone in a third world country would be thankful for, Dweeb." I hopped down and spotted Grandpa just step out of the Rustbucket. As Gwen tried to come up with a retort, I placed a kiss on her lips. I smiled as she blushed. "Come on. You want normal food, let's get normal food.

"Why did you…?"

"Are you hungry, or what?" I held the door open for her. She went over to me and looked around, only seeing Max start heading for the restaurant. She turned to me.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"You know what!"

"You mean this?" I leaned forward, making her blush as I got closer, only to brush passed her and kiss her cheek. She blushed as I stepped off the RV and turned to her as I backed away, following Max. "To be fair. You started it." She rushed to catch up with us. When she did, she kept pace with me, just out of Max's hearing if she whispers.

"You shouldn't be doing that. We're cousins."

"Then why did you?" She blushed and rubbed her arm. I noticed she was wearing the Luck Charm and grinned. "Hey, that looks good on you."

"Oh, thanks." She fingered it as she smiled at my compliment.

"If you don't have an answer for why you kissed me right now, give it some thought, Dweeb." We sat at our table and began to eat. We got to the last crawdad and I swiped it before she could react.

"Hey! You've already had 11 to my 9!"

"I'm a growing boy, I need to eat." The Charm glowed as she reached for it and I leaned back. The Rue Goldberg machine of destruction that followed, led to some more cooked crawdads landing on our plates in the confusion and knocked me and Gwen into each other and to the ground as Max tried helping a waiter clean up the mess. She landed on top of me as I held the crawdad meat in my teeth. I grinned at her. She blushed darkly before leaning down and snagging the meat, brushing her lips against mine. We helped each other up, the blush still on her cheeks as I chuckled. We packed up the rest and started making our way back to the Rustbucket when we heard someone call out that someone had just nabbed their purse.

Max stood in the thieves way. I reached for my bandana, only to remember I left it on the Rustbucket. "Dammit." I looked around and hid behind a cart as I tried pulling up the Omnitrix's interface.

" _What are you doing,"_ asked Aoi.

' _Making it look like I can't access Omnitrix, give Gwen an excuse to jump to Max's aid. Give her a taste of being a hero.'_

" _You're manipulating her?"_

' _Only slightly. I've pretty much confirmed the Master is here. He and Vilgax are currently trapped in a temporary Time Lock. It won't last forever, but it'll last long enough for us to get to Mount Rushmore and for me to prepare. I need the right combination to beat Vilgax. As I am now, I don't think I can beat him.'_

" _You fought the Conquerors!"_

' _And Vilgax is different. Unlike the Conquerors, Vilgax is more competent. He won't tell you what his plan is while you wait for an opening. Vilgax will tell you as he's executing his plan, or while he's beating you down. His ego is big, but he also knows when someone is trying to use it against him. Unlike the Freaks, He's mortal. He doesn't want immortality, a perfect world, anarchy, to be a god. He just wants to rule and kill anyone who stands in the way of that.'_ Gwen went to help Max and I picked up a rock as she caused one of the guys to get knocked out by a plank of wood. I knocked the steel pipe from the leader's hand as Max detained him. Gwen tossed out another rock and tripped him.

People started cheering for the three of us. I groaned slightly and tried hiding myself as much as possible. Gwen turned to me as Max got in the drivers seat. "What's wrong, Phoenix?"

"I don't like being in the spotlight. It's not a good thing for me." I sat in the dining booth before fiddling with the Omnitrix. "Wonder if one of these guys can go invisible. That'd be a nice trick."

" _Watch the hands,"_ shouted Aoi in my head. At the same time, she caused the Omnitrix to shock me.

"OW!" I glared at it as Gwen looked at me.

"Are you ok?"

"Stupid thing shocked me."

"Maybe it knew you'd do something bad if you went invisible."

"Oh please. I'm much more mature than most boys my age. The invisibility is more for combat. Can't hit what you can't see, you know?"

"I'm sure…"

"That's enough you two," said Max. "Now, go get some sleep. We're leaving first thing in the morning."

"Alright," we both said. I reached into my pocket and pulled out something before moving Gwen in front of a mirror.

"What are you doing, Doofus?"

"Just hold still." I pulled out the cat mask and placed it over her face. "Perfect."

"What's with the mask?"

"Saw you eyeing it after the thugs. Swiped it for you."

"Phoenix! That's stealing!"

"Relax. No one will miss a stupid mask that cost two bucks. And it's not like anyone saw me. I may not be able to become invisible, but I know how to stay out of sight." I kissed her cheek as she took the mask. "Consider it a good luck charm." I fingered the talisman. "Well, a second good luck charm."

"Thanks, Doofus."

"Good night, Dweeb." I climbed to my bunk and started meditating.

* * *

I entered the Omnitrix and started looking through the locked out alien figures as Aoi kept close behind me. I came across the Alien X figure and slammed it, hearing the bickering inside. "Hey! Both of you shut up!" I groaned as I rubbed my temples. "I wonder why one of those is in here anyway."

"Azmuth collected millions of DNA strands from the Codon Stream."

"But why would a Celestialsapien be in here anyway? I did research on them during my Training Years. They exist and are created outside of a single universe while staying within the Omniverse. How could one's DNA end up in the Stream?" I slammed the figure again as the bickering started once more. I looked around and saw that one of the aliens was missing. "And yet the Chronosapien form isn't in here?"

"Not for this version, no. We found it conflicted with certain aspects of the Omnitrix."

"Then I guess he fixes it for the future versions." I went up to the Necrofrigian form. "Hmm…"

"What are you thinking?"

"This one will have children not long after its form is unlocked. I want to be able to protect them."

"You can't. Necrofrigian hatchlings almost never see their parents. Think like sharks."

"There has to be a way."

"You're thinking like a human father. Remember, alien physiology doesn't work in the same way as humans. It's a miracle each alien here is carbon based with few exceptions."

"Like him?" I nodded to the Ectonurite form. The body of Zs'skayr. "How did the Codon Stream get his body, anyway?"

"I'm not sure. I don't even think Azmuth would know."

"His soul is wondering around here on Earth. When we encounter him, I need a way to combat him. Solar energy seems to work in his weakened state."

"Too bad none of the aliens here can project it, only absorb it." I turned to a figure behind the Necrofrigian.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"What?" I went up to a being standing at about 7 feet with a large forehead, four mandibles protruding from it's mouth and yellow eyes. On the back of its head were dreadlocks.

"It is… Can you unlock this one for me?"

"Why?"

"Because this form holds a certain… familiar charm." I circled the figure and saw all of its gear was on it and grinned. "Definitely unlock this one."

"Do you even know what it's called?"

"Yautja. The ultimate hunters."

"It'll take a while for me to unlock. You'll be without the Omnitrix, possibly for a few days."

"I can manage. Unlike Ben, I have formal training. Please get it started, Aoi. I've got a witch doctor to deal with."

* * *

I opened my eyes and heard Max snoring in his bed at the back of the Rustbucket and the sound of a basketball bouncing outside. I went out and spotted Gwen make one of the luckiest trick shots ever thanks to the Luck Charm. I caught the ball as it sailed for my head. "You should be more careful, Cousin." I tossed the ball to her.

"Sorry," she called as she caught it. "I thought you were still asleep."

"I don't sleep. I meditate."

"You know what I mean."

"I know." I walked over to her and examined the Charm. "So this thing grants the user incredible luck. Must come in handy."

"I was thinking…"

"About?"

"About me being more than just a bystander as you put yourself in danger. One of these days, the Omnitrix won't work! What'll happen then?!"

"I'll handle it. I'm not about to let you put yourself in danger. I'm the reckless one, remember? You're the careful one."

"Phoenix, you need a partner out there! You can't face everything by yourself!"

"Help," called a construction worker. I looked up and saw they were dangling from the top of the building we were next to.

"You want to help," I asked Gwen. "Help them. The Omnitrix has been acting up recently, I don't think I'll be able to get the right alien for the job."

"O-ok, I'll be right back!" I saw her run into the Rustbucket and looked around for anything that could slow their fall in case she didn't come out in time. I picked up a tarp and ran beneath the dangling worker, attempting to try and use it as a catching net, only for it to tear. _'Lucy, you and I need to have a serious chat about your supposed Luck enhancements!'_ I tried to find something else as Gwen came out dressed as Lucky Girl wearing the mask I bought her and leapt to action, causing a series of events that led to a pipe being moved under the man.

"Jump," shouted Max. I turned around and noticed he'd made his way outside, probably after hearing the man call for help. Discretely, I sent a rush of wind up the pipe to slow the man's descent a little more as he and his coworker slid down. I ran over to the men and helped them away from the pipe as the wire it was suspended from started to snap. I pushed them to one side and rolled to the other, the pipe mere inches from my body.

"Whoa," I exclaimed as I scooted away. "Ok, too close for comfort." I climbed over the pipe and looked at the men. "You guys ok?!" They nodded, panting, as they tried to regain their breath. A few minutes later, reporters and normal people alike were praising Gwen as a hero for saving the two workers. I sat nearby with Max and turned to him. "Grandpa, do you think Gwen should be helping with the whole 'hero' thing?"

"Why do you ask, Phoenix?"

"She brought it up. She doesn't like the fact that I put myself in harms way by myself while she just tries and help from the sidelines. That Charm we took from the witch doctor seems to be magic and grants the user incredible luck."

"I think we should bring it to the museum. We can't risk that thing falling into the wrong hands in the middle of a fight."

"Yeah… its not like the Omnitrix, being stuck on my wrist with no sign of detaching. Which reminds me, I'm going to have one weird tan line if we ever get this thing off of me." Max chuckled.

"I think there are other things to worry about than tan lines, Phoenix."

"I know. Just trying to take my mind off of all the weird stuff we've encountered since summer started. Aliens, now magic? It seems almost too…"

"Unbelievable?"

"Yeah. And to make things weirder, I keep getting visions, almost messages from this weird alien. A green squid looking guy." I watched him almost slip up, but school his features like a professional. "Everything ok, Grandpa?"

"Just fine, Phoenix. Looks like Gwen managed to slip away. We should head out soon."

"Alright, Grandpa." We made our way into the RV and I spotted Gwen's mask hanging on the bathroom door and climbed onto my bunk "Gwen's changing. We can get moving."

"Alright." We started down the road and Gwen pulled herself up to my bunk.

"So, how did I do?"

"You did well. But Grandpa feels we should take your good luck charm back to the museum, make sure it goes where it belongs. And I agree with him."

"What?!"

"Gwen, that thing is too dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands! And it easily could if my fight with the witch doctor is anything to go by! What happens if we get into a fight and you lose the Charm?! If whoever we're fighting gets their hands on it? It's not attached to you the same way the Omnitrix is to me!"

"With this I can help you!"

"Kids," called Max behind him. "Now's not the time to argue. Sounds like our magic friend is back at the museum." I reached for my balaclava and Gwen back to the bathroom to change. I went to the passenger seat.

"The watch is on the fritz. I'm going to handle this by myself."

"Phoenix, can you even handle this by yourself?"

"For some reason, his magic didn't work on me like it did everyone else. I'm hoping it's the same for everything except for fireballs. No way I'll be immune to those."

"Phoenix, you should be careful."

"I know, Grandpa." We got to the museum and spotted Hex using his magic to lure us in to get back his Charm. I went out and stuck to the shadows as he threw a police car. I got behind a hiding spot and made sure to draw his attention away from me. "Zul-Mey-Gut." My voice projected behind him and he turned around but did nothing.

"Do you think me a fool?" I grunted as he turned towards me and blasted me away with magic and into a car. "Simple tricks will not help you this time, Mage."

"And here I was thinking you'd be incompetent."

"I may not be able to use the words of the Ancient Ones, but I know of their uses."

"Of course Dovahzul would be known to Magicals here… Alright then, let's see how you stack against other mages I've fought, Witch Doctor."

"I am no mere witch doctor, boy. I am Hex, your superior."

"We'll see about that. Tiid-KLO-UL!" Time slowed around me as I charged at him. Apparently, he wasn't kidding when he said he knew of the words of power. I was three feet from him when time returned to normal and a fireball hit me in the chest before knocking me off my feet.

"Slowing time, a very handy trick against those unaware of its power, and weakness."

"You started your fireball as soon as I started speaking, you're good."

"And you are a novice, unfit to wield the power you have."

"I'm just about a thousand years out of practice," I muttered, unaware of someone hidden nearby listening to us. "Let's see how you fair against different magic." I slammed my hand down and a pillar of earth slammed into him before a gust of wind lifted him off the ground. I grinned as he looked at me surprised as I slipped into the shadows.

"Phoenix," shouted Gwen as she ran over, looking to help me.

"The Charm," said Hex as he spotted the Charm around Gwen's neck. "Give it here!"

"Come and get it!"

"Gwen," I shouted from my hiding place, voice echoing across the shadows. "Get out of here!"

"I'm not watching from the sidelines!"

"He is trying to lure you out to get the Charm! Luck alone can't stand against him!"

"You should listen to your friend, girl. He knows more about magic than you do!"

"What?!" I emerged from the shadows and punched him in the face. I turned to Gwen.

"Go n…" A fireball flew passed my head and landed at Gwen's feet right behind her. I turned to Hex, and he slammed me to the ground with his staff as Gwen was propelled forward and into Hex's grip. He ripped the Charm from her neck and tossed her away. I caught her before she could hit a car. I growled and pulled my Johyo from its place in my interdimensional storage and threw it at Hex, wrapping it around the Charm and bringing it to me. "Come and get me, Hex!" I ran towards a graveyard as Max tended to Gwen. Hex growled and chased after me. I waited for him out in the open as I raised a barrier around the graveyard preventing anyone from getting in.

"You're either brave or foolish to face me on your own, child." I glared at him before covering myself with flames and revealing my actual form.

"Want to call me child again, Fool?"

"What is this?!"

"Soul Magic. I'm sure you've heard of it." I removed my balaclava to reveal my hair and eyes. He stepped back instinctively as he recognized the indicators. I tossed the Charm to him. "Go ahead, power up if you feel like it'll help you. But don't expect anything substantial. Not against me." He looked at the Charms and the Arkamada before dropping them both and getting to his knees. "Seems you're not a total fool." I returned to my child form and sighed before walking over to him. "Will you go with the police quietly?" Hex nodded. "I will remove your memory of this. For now, at least. Something tells me I'll need your help in the future." I felt someone watching me and looked around. "You are alone, yes?"

"Why?"

"Because there's someone else besides us in here." I turned around, feeling the eyes still on me. Hex stood up and looked around.

"I don't feel or see anything."

"Then maybe we should leave." I drop the barrier and punched Hex unconscious before locking away the memory of my true form and Soul Magic. I looked around and glared. "Zs'skayr…?" I felt a cold chill fill the air and growled softly before hiding in the shadows as I took the Charms from Hex and the police stormed the graveyard.


End file.
